Hospital Fee Is One Step Closer to Law

The Assembly Committee on Health yesterday approved a bill designed to offset Medi-Cal costs for hospitals.

SB 239 by Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) extends the Medi-Cal quality assurance fee for hospitals for an additional two years.

"This bill would create a two-year fee program that would provide supplemental Medi-Cal payment to hospitals, to help reduce that annual loss of about $5 billion a year, from treating Medi-Cal patients," said Anne McLeod, senior vice president of health policy at the California Hospital Association. Read more here.